Yuu Yuu Hakusho 2

"Good fighting game for a great fighting show"

Ah yes a Japanese Yuu Yuu Hakusho 2D fighter is what Yuu Yuu 2 is all about. Unlike it's predecessor Yuu Yuu Hakusho(1), which was more of a strategy game than a fighting game, number 2 is all about the fist and kick action and jumping around doing special techniques. Which is good considering that is what the anime and manga are all about. Here goes.

Graphics:8/10
Nice job here. I got to give Namco credit they really captured the essence of the drawn style anime to computer sprites. The characters all look correctly no flaws on the designs anywhere. Even the few cut scenes look pretty descent. You will not be visually disappointed here at all. However I have seen better graphics for the Super Nintendo which is why this game only gets an 8.

Sound:9/10
Sounds good to me. The music has a nice melody and each stage has it's own different background music. The one nice thing is the music doesn't get annoying. There have been several games where I had to mute it and play the stereo because I couldn't stand that background music any longer. I assure you that is not the case here. All though it would have been nice to have tunes from the anime but that's no biggie.

Story:9/10
Story getting a high ranking in a fighting game huh? Yes unbelievable isn't it. But I got to say that I was impressed. If a fighter has a story it gets a high ranking however this game actually takes you through the Spirit Detective Saga and Dark Tournament Saga. Pretty much following every detail with of course a few fights here and there that were left out, mainly because the game doesn't have all of the characters available to play. A little disappointing but not really because it has the main ones such as Yuske, Kuwabara, Hiei, Y. Toguro, Kurama, Chu, and more. But enough about that any fighting game with a good story is definitely a keeper don't you think so?

Gameplay:8/10
For the most part not too shabby. What you would expect out of a 2D fighter. Y for punch X for strong punch B for kick A for strong kick. D pad moves player you get the idea. of course there are special spiritual techniques found only in Yuu Yuu Hakusho. These techniques include the Spirit Gun, the Spirit Sword, Black Dragon Wave, Rose Petal Waltz Configuration, 100% of 100%, and many many many more. Besides from story mode there is also a versus mode which you can go against a 2nd player or CPU. A training mode to figure out how to perform certain techniques. And a tournament mode which you choose a player and have him/her fight all the other fighters until none are left standing. However like all fighters once you learn the moves and master the fighting it does get a bit stale. But fear not because like all fighters after a few months of collecting dust on the shelf you will bring it back out and it will seem new again.

Buy or rent:
Oh yeah you wanna buy this one. First of all it is in Japanese only which means it was never released in the US. So if you find one somewhere and even if the price is jacked up buy it especially if you like the series.

Overal:8/10
In conclusion I would like to state that this is one of the better fighters for the Super NES. Yes even better than the Mortal Kombat series seeing how it has a story mode. Even if you can't read Japanese you'll still be able to navigate through things by memory. Well I hope you found this review useful and hope you'll consider paying that hefty price for this rare game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/04